The shipwrecked Costa Concordia is floating on its own for the first time in two and a half years as one of the biggest salvage operations ever enters its most crucial phase.
"The ship is floating," chief engineer Franco Porcellacchia told scores of reporters gathered on the island of Giglio.
"It is now about one metre off the underwater platform it was lying on ... This is extremely positive."
The massive ship - twice as large as The Titanic - will be raised another metre before being shifted towards the open sea by the end of the day in a salvage operation costing $2bn (£1.17bn).
Compressed air is being pumped into 30 tanks attached to the sides of the vessel to force out seawater and refloat the vessel.
Water gushed out as compressed air was pumped in to special refloat tanks Thirty-two people died when the huge ship slammed into rocks off the Italian island in January 2012 and part of the ship's 290-metre-long hull sank beneath the water.
But having been hauled into an upright position after a 19-hour operation last September, the wreckage of the luxury liner will soon be dragged to the port of Genoa where it will be broken up and sold as scrap.
The 114,500-tonne vessel was being raised two metres off the artificial platforms it has rested on since September in the initial phase of the operation on Monday.
Mr Rebello, second left, is the only victim whose body is still missing Engineers are hoping to tow it 30 metres from shore and moor it using anchors and cables.
"The risks are that the ship could bend as it is raised, or the chains underneath it could snap," Salvage Master Nick Sloane said before the operation began.
"There will be 42 people on board during the first manoeuvre. If disaster strikes we will evacuate through emergency escapes on the bow and stern."
The bulk of the refloating operation is due to take place from Thursday to Saturday, as the decks slowly emerge to be cleared of debris and checked for structural damage.
The salvage operation is the biggest in maritime history Search teams will scour the wreck in an attempt to find the body of the only victim still missing, Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter.
In an interview with Sky News last January, Mr Rebello's brother, Kevin, who has made regular trips to Giglio from his home in Milan, said: "More than anything we would just like to find Russel's body so we can bury him and draw a line on what happened.''
Eerie video footage shot by divers and released by police earlier this month showed twisted metalwork, broken furniture and discarded belongings left by the 4,200 people who were on board the Costa Concordia when it crashed.
Francesco Schettino, the ship's captain, is on trial on several counts, including manslaughter. He is fighting the charges.
Francesco Schettino is accused of fleeing the ship Schettino is accused of deliberately altering the course of the Concordia in order to carry out a sail-by salute of the island in order to impress local residents and passengers.
The 53-year-old, who was allegedly on the bridge with his Moldovan lover Domnica Cemortan, claimed it was ''too dark to see anything'' and told investigators he had not fled but had ''tripped and fell into a lifeboat".
He was dubbed 'Captain Coward' by some tabloid newspapers after reportedly refusing orders from the coastguard to return to the ship to help with the rescue operation.
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